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Pusblotches
The Pusblotches were a well known band of street performers at the Bristol Renaissance Faire from the summer of 1994 to 1997. Although the makeup of the troop changed every year, the founding members, Eric Houghton and Rob Melvin, remained a constant. The troop was known for outlandish and original antics on stage or in the street, as well as their propensity to get into trouble. Characterized as a family of gravediggers, the group strove to offer patrons a view of the dregs of society outside of the Mudshow or Lady Ettie. Eric Houghton created the character Cadaverous Pusblotch during BAPA 1992. As a member of the Guild of the Addled Pate, Houghton's Cadaverous wore bones and burlap and carried a shovel crafted from a mangled branch. In 1993 fellow performer and longtime comic conspirator Rob Melvin joined the Addled Pate as Cadaverous' identical twin brother Cadaverous. The Pusblotches were now officially a family. In 1994 they became a troop, breaking from the Addled Pate and taking two new members; Mellissa Troppe as Cadaveresse and John Lebrun as the blind Plog Pusblotch. This season they gained much noteriety with their hilarious puppet opera "Smelly Finger." In this play, the sadistic puppet Crusty Joe repeatedly tricks Philomena, a skull on a stick, to allow him to stick his finger in her eyes, nose, and brain and then smell his finger again and again. 1994 was also the year the troop dug the "Great Hole of Bristol," a ramshackle exhibit where patrons bought a ticket from the puppet theatre, boarded a child's wagon done up like a boat, and took a ferry ride ten yards to a three foot hole in the ground. In 1995 the troop expanded to six when it took on members Amy Harmon, as Cadaverette, and Dennis Brumirski as Turkey Pusblotch. That year the troop recieved some criticism for building a makeshift amusement park out of junk in front of the old washwell. They were later reprimanded for throwing a fellow actor in the river after that actor threw a bucket of water on the troop during a puppet show. Co-director Eric Houghton was almost fired for breaking a child's wooden sword. In 1996 Troppe, Lebrun, and Harmon moved on to cleaner costumes and the troop took on Steve Mack and Peter O'Connel. With a new reputation as the bad boys of the street, groupies were not an uncommon site. This same year the Pusblotches discovered a "bucket fireball", "the Grotesque Cherubs", "Julio Caeasar" and "tootheaches are caused by demons." 1996 was also the year the group demolished their portable puppet theater with giant swords from the military camp while the crowd sang "Jingle Bells." This lazy avoidance of anacronism would eventually bring them out of the good graces of upper management, which was new as of 1997. In 1997, Nicole Peters joined, as Cadaveresse. The Pusblotches continued to try and outdo themselves with wilder shows, costumes and props, but their most well known work remained "Smelly Finger." The Faire site itself was quikly changing, and many old, beat up structures were coming down to makeway for larger, more elaborate architecture. The Pusblotch encampment, which included a makeshift shed, stage and puppet theater, was despised for its ugliness by local shops and nobles from the nearby glade. The Pusblotches sacrificial slaughter of a giant, white stuffed bull during a performance, which released thousands of foam pellits all over the Faire site, understandably started the Pusblotches off on the wrong foot with new management. Though the troop was never formally fired, the 1997 season ended with the gravediggers' stylings seeming less than welcome. Only Melvin and Mack continued to work as street performers at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in years to follow. Category:Bristol Renaissance Faire